Manufactured Housing Loan Borrowers Face Higher Interest Rates, Risks, and Barriers to Credit, New CFPB Report Finds

Consumers tend to be rural and lower income, and those who do not own the underlying land have the greatest challenges

Article originally posted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on May 27, 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a report that provides new insights into manufactured housing financing, a vital source of lending for millions of manufactured housing homeowners. Manufactured housing is a small segment of the overall housing supply, but it is one of the most affordable types of housing available to low-income consumers and makes up 13% of the housing stock in small towns and rural America. Those low acquisition costs, however, often come coupled with higher interest rates and limited opportunity to refinance. Consumers who do not own the underlying land are more likely to see their homes depreciate and have fewer protections if they fall behind on payments. These factors combined can make this affordable housing a potentially risky avenue for homeownership. The CFPB’s report uses new information collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to shed light on the experiences of these often-overlooked families.